For a number of types of products, shopping can be quite difficult, particularly if it is desired that the products which are being sought be compatible with products currently owned by the customer. In, for example, shopping for clothes, oftentimes a customer must either take particular items of clothing which he or she owns, with him or her to the store to verify that newly-acquired products are compatible with the currently-owned products. If a number of new products are to be acquired, this can be an arduous task, and in that case the customer may, instead, wish to rely on his or her memory, but in that case he or she will risk the possibility that newly-acquired products will not be compatible.
A similar problem arises in connection with catalog shopping, particularly, for example, when the catalog product information is obtained over a computer network. Since current computer monitor displays do not render colors and graphics uniformly or accurately, it is often difficult merely from looking at product displays to determine their colors and styles. Even with print catalogs, the printing processes used to render the colors and styles of the products often provide inaccurate rendering of the product's color and style. Accordingly, it is often difficult merely from looking at either a rendering of a product in a printed catalog or on a computer monitor display whether the actual product is compatible with products currently owned by the prospective customer.